Project Survival’s Cat Haven has the full collection of big cats on display in its 100-acre property west of Kings Canyon National Park.
There are lions and tigers, jaguars and leopards, cheetahs and cougars, plus a few bobcats and lynx and a trio of servals.
In all, there are 40 cats needing to get fed each day.
When the sanctuary’s supply of red meat donations started to dry up this winter, it became an issue.
Cat Haven executive director Dale Anderson says “it’s pretty precise, what we do. It’s not just cut off a slab of beef and throw it in the cage.”
The food — typically some mix of chicken, red meat and whole prey animal — is weighed and charted out for each cat. Vitamins and supplements like fish oils are then added.
Over the past couple of months, the sanctuary in Dunlap in eastern Fresno County stopped getting red meat from the farms and ranches that usually donate. It’s been able to supplement the supply by buying slabs of beer shoulder from Restaurant Depot in Fresno, but even at a discounted rate, the cost per pound of food went from .75 cents to $2.75.